Backplane circuit boards are known in the art. Backplanes are typically used with or without an associated housing and serve to receive two or more other circuit boards. Such other circuit boards typically interface with the backplane circuit board at a right angle and couple via use of edge connectors, pins, or the like. The backplane often provides power to the other circuit boards and further provides signal paths to facilitate the exchange of analog and/or digital signals amongst these other circuit boards.
Notwithstanding the above, known backplane architectures can present problems ranging from mild to significant in a variety of applications. In some settings, known backplanes are not sufficiently flexible to accommodate a desired breadth of other circuit boards and/or applications. In particular, desired power and/or signal exchanges are not always sufficiently supported by existing backplane designs. On the other hand, while many existing backplanes may not support desired functionality, they may nevertheless permit compatible physical coupling with otherwise incompatible circuit boards. When this occurs, significant to severe problems can result, including service interruption and/or damage to the incompatible circuit board, the backplane, other boards that are coupled to the backplane, or any combination of the above.
A number of factors contribute to the difficulty of offering an interconnect and function-rich backplane on the one hand and a backplane that will aid in avoiding potentially damaging interfacing with a genuinely functionally incompatible circuit board. Cost comprises one significant contributing factor. In general, the backplane serves as a relatively low-level infrastructure component and reduced rather than increased associated costs are common design criteria and restrictions. Physical form factor limitations comprise another relatively common and significant contributing factor. Backplanes are often used in association with a card cage or other housing. This, in turn, usually presents outer limits with respect to various physical dimensions including height and width. Notwithstanding such physical limits, system designers typically seek to provide a backplane that can accommodate as many circuit boards as possible. The resultant interface density, in turn, can complicate the achievement of the other design goals noted earlier.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are typically not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present invention.